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tf13 


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The  blessed  de 
Conf  Pam  l2mo  #473 


"THE  BLESSED  DEAD  WAITING   FOR   US." 


A    SERMON 


PREACHES   IN 


ST.  JAMES'  CHURCH, 


MARIETTA,  GEORGIA, 


ON   THE 


FESTIVAL    OF    ALL    SAINTS 


NOVEMBER  1st,  1S63, 


BY 


REV.   SAMUEL    BENEDICT, 

RECTOR  OF  THE  PARISH. 


PUBLISHED  BY  BEQUEST. 


fton,  dwrrjjia: 

BURKE  BOYKIN  &  CO.,  STEAM  BOOK  AND  JOB  PRINTERS. 
1863. 


"if  i  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  tou,  i  will  come  again  and 
receive  you  unto  myself." 

"This  same  Jesus  which  is  taken  up  from  you  into  Heaven, 
shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  you  have  seen  him  go  into  heaven." 

"From  whence  also  wb  look  for  the  Saviour  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 

"Looking  for  that  blessed  hope." 

"Looking  for  and  hasting  unto  the  coming  of  the  day  of  God." 

"When  He  shall  appear  we  shall  be  made  like  Him." 

"  Even  so,  comb  Lord  Jesus." 


THE  FLOWERS  COLLECTION 


Heb.  XI,  40  :  "  that  thy  without  us  shall  not  he  made  perfect. 
To-day  is  All-Saints'  day.  We  to-day  commemorate  all 
those  who  "  having  finished  their  course  in  faith,  do  now 
rest  from  their  labors."  That  long  line  of  faithful  ones,  of 
whom  St.  Paul,  in  the  chapter  of  which  the  text  is  the  con-^ 
elusion,  gives  only  a  few  note-worthy  Scripture  names,  has 
been  year  by  year,  rapidly  and  steadily  augmenting.  It 
now  includes  many  familiar  to  our  minds  and  clear  to  our 
hearts.  Towards  that  great  "  cloud  of  witnesses"  all  living 
saints  are  steadily  advancing  and  rapidly  passing.  A  few 
years  and  we,  too,  shall  have  been  numbered  with  the  dead. 
God  grant  to  all  of  us,  that  then  we  may  be  reckoned  among 
thosej  of  whom  a  future  generation  may  take  up  the  strain  of 
Apostolic  rapture,  "  These  all,  having  obtained  a  good 
report  through  faith,  received  not  the  promise,  God  having  pro- 
vided  some  better  thing  for  us}  that  they,  without  us,  should 
not  be  made  perfect." 

Yes,  we  can  hope  for  no  better  condition  after  death,  and, 
before  the  resurrection,  than  all  the  saints  of  all  the  former 
ages  have  enjoyed.  They,  in  their  triumphant,  their  blessed 
state,  still  wait  for  us.  How  near  this  thought  brings  all  the 
departed  good  to  us  1  not  gone  on  to  their  eternal,  their  final 
reward,  and*  for  the  present  separated  from  us  in  hope  and 
sympathy ;  but,  still  with  us  in  a  state  of  expectancy,  with 
us,  waiting  for  a  still  brighter  day,  for  a  still  more  glorious 
fruition.  Abraham  and  Moses,  and  Joseph  and  David,  and 
all  the  saints  of  the  world's  earlier  days  have  not  yet  receiv- 
ed the  promise!  Why?  "  God  having  provided  some  bet- 
ter thing  for  us"  also,  (for  that  is  what  the  verse  plainly 
means:  not  that  God  has  provided  some  better  thing  for  us. 
than  he  did  for  them,  but  that  God  for  us,  as  for  them,  has 
provided  some  better  thing,  than  in  this  world  is  offered  to 


4  A  SBftMOtf* 

Us,  and,  therefore,  they  do  not  receive  it  in  advance  of  us ;) 
"God  having  provided  some  better  thing  for  us"  also,  "  that 
they  without  us  should  not  be  made  perfect."  (a.) 

In  these  words,  is,  we  say>  contained  the  doctrine  of  the 
intermediate  state  of  the  departed  saints;  a  doctrine  which 
comes  naturally  to  our  thoughts,  when  we  dwell  upon  the 
memory  of  those  who,  once  with  us  in  the  communion  of' 
the  Church  on  earth,  are  still  with  us  in  the  communion  of 
Christ's  body,  although  taken  from  our  presence  and  our 
sight.  One  with  us  still !  How  ?  As  the  angels  are  ?  No, 
not  so.  In  a  closer^  in  a  still  nearer  sense.  Still  related  to 
us,  by  the  ties  of  a  mortal  nature ;  still  destined  with  us  to 

Notes. — (a.)  The  advantages  in  this  life  conferred  upon  us  do  far  exceed 
those  granted  to  saints  in  the  earlier  ages.  But  there  seems  to  be  no  suck 
comparison  intimated  in  these  words,  or  hinted  at  in  this  chapter.  Our  faith 
needs  some  better  thing  in  the  future,  to  sustain  us  Under  earthly  labors  and 
Bufferings,  just  as  theirs  did,'v.  v.  10,  13,  16,  27,  35.  The  systematic  contrast 
between  the  Jewish  and  the  Christian  dispensations,  seems  to  have  passed  out 
of  St.  Paul's  mind  at  the  middle  of  the  tenth  chapter.  From  that  point,  all  the 
faithful,  are,  in  his  view,  members  of  the  one  family  of  Abraham's  spiritual  seed, 
and  heirs  with  him  of  the  same  promise,  and  bound  to  live,  And  labor,  and 
Buffer,  and  conquer  through  faith,  And  to  this  victory  of  faith  it  is  necessary 
that  some  tetter  thing  should  be  held  out  to  us,  of  which  "faith  is  the  evidence,'' 
some  future  re\vard  "hoped  for,"  of  which  faith  is  the  present  "substance.'* 
To  adhere,  in  this  verse,  to  the  idea  previously  set  forth  of  some  better  thing 
granted  to  us  in  this  life  than  to  the  Jews  was  vouchsafed,  complicates  the  in» 
terpretation,  and  confuses  the  sense. 

The  Presbyterian  divine^  Dr.  McKuight,  while  needlessly  laboring  to  incor- 
porate both  ideas  in  his  paraphrase  of  this  verse,  yet  uses  the  following  words, 
"  God  having  foreseen  that  by  the  Gospel  He  would  bestow  some  better  means 
vf  faith  on  us  in  order  to  our  becoming  Abraham's  spiritual  seed,  resolved 
that  the  ancients  without  us,  should  not  be  made  perfect,  by  receiving  the 
promised  heavenly  country.  For  He  determined  that  the  whole  spiritual  seed 
of  Abraham,  raised  from  the  dead,  shall  be  introduced  into  that  couutry  in  a 
body  at  one  aUd  the  same  time;  namely,  after  the  geheral  judgment."  And  in 
his  annotations,  he  says  more  fully :  "  Made  perfect,  here  signifies  made  com- 
plete, by  receiving  the  whole  of  the  blessings  promised  to  believers.  *  *  * 
These  blessings  are  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  the  everlasting  possession  of 
the  heavenly  country,  and  the  full  enjoyment  of  God  as  their  exceeding  great 
reward."  The  Apostle's  doctrine,  that  believers  are  all  to  be  rewarded  togeth- 
er and  at  the  same  time,  is  agreeable  to  Christ's  declaration,  who  told  His  de- 
ciples  that  they  were  not  to  come  to  the  place  He  was  going  away  to  prepare 
for  them,  till  he  returned  from  heaven  to  carry  them  to  it.  St.  Jo.  xiv,  3. 
Further,  that  the  righteous  are  not  to  be  rewarded  till  the  end  of  the  world,  is 
evident  from  Christ's  words.  St.  Matth,  Xiii,  40,  43.  In  like  manner  St.  Peter 
hath  told  us,  that  the  righteous  are  to  be  made  glad  With  their  reward,  at  the, 
revelation  of  Christ.  1  Pet.  iv,  13.  When  they  are  to  receive  a  crown  of  glory 
thatfadeth  not  away.  1  Pet.  v,  4.  St.  John  also  tells  us,  that  when  He  shall 
appear,  we  shall  be  made  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is.     1  Jo.  iii,  2." 

The  following  are  a  few  of  the  many  passages  bearing  on  this  truth.  Let 
them  be  consulted  in  order  :  Dan.  xii,  2,  3.  St.  Jo.  V,  29.  St.  Lu.  xiv,  14, 
xx  36.  Pom.  viii,  23.  1  Cor.  xv,  54.  2  Cor.  iv,  i4.  1  TheS;  iv,  14-17. 
Heb.  ix,  28.  1  Pet.  i,  3-7.  St.  Matth.  xiii,  43.  St*  Matth.  xxv,  21,  34,  46. 
Col.  iii,  4»    Ps.  xvii,  15.     1  Jo.  iii,  2.    2  Tim.  iv,  8. 


A  SEftMON*  O 

the  glad  bursting  of  the  resurrection  morn  ;  still  to  pass  with 
us  the  ordeal  of  the  judgment;  still  with  us  to  hear  the  ap- 
proval "well  done"  from  the  lips  of  our  Judge;  and  still, 
With  us,  to  be  admitted  for  the  first  time,  "to  the  kingdom 
prepared"  for  us  and  for  them  "from  the  foundation  of  the 
world."  There  is,  we  maintain,  in  this  doctrine,a  peculiarly 
sweet  and  animating  reflection  :  the  dead  in  Christ,  our  own 
loved  ones  gone  before,  still  waiting  for  us,  still  delaying  their 
entrance  into  their  highest  glory,  till  we  with  them  can  enter 
there. 

We  consider  this  doctrine  as  it  is  here  so  plainly  stated,  in 
a  two-fold  aspect ; 

1.  In  regard  to  the  condition  of  the  body. 

2.  In  regard  to  the  condition  of  the  soul. 

I.  As  to  the  body.  Outside  every  city  and  town  and 
hamlet  where  human  beings  live,  there  grows  up  rapidly 
and  steadily,  the  more  thickly  populated  city  of  the  dead. 
In  Christian  lands,  the  clear  lifeless  forms  are  there  disposed 
with  care,  in  recognition  of  the  fact,  that,  in  this  condition, 
a  great  and  mighty  transformation  awaits  them.  Soon,  very 
soon,  the  population  in  these  silent  streets,  and  these  lonely 
tenements,  far  exceeds  that  of  the  busy  town,  with  its  bust* 
ling  crowds,  and  its  homes  of  gaiety  and  happiness.  Every 
year  the  stream  flows  on  from  the  busy  to  the  silent  city  ; 
from  the  homes  of  the  living  and  the  loving,  to  the  cold, 
dark,  unresponsive  chambers  of  the  tomb.  Christian  faith 
may  teach  us,  that  the  state  of  the  soul  is  vastly  more  im- 
portant  than  the  disposal  made  of  the  material  form,  and 
that  he  who  has  Christian  faith  will  think  only  of  the  soul 
of  his  departed  friend;  that,  in  his  view,  the  body  will  be 
only  the  deserted  cell,  the  cast-off  fetter,  the  forgotten  au- 
relia  of  the  released,  the  exultant  spirit.  So,  in  one  sense, 
it  does,  But  still,  under  Christian  teachings,  the  resting- 
places  of  the  bodies  of  departed  friends,  are  places  of  special 
interest  to  the  bereaved.  There  the  heart  naturally  feels 
that  the  loved  one  is  lying.  Despite  the  voice  divine  that 
tells  them  "  he  is  not  here,"  the  heart  still  clings  to  the  form, 
lifeless  and  mouldering,  though  it  be,  beneath  the  stone. 
There  is  the  father,   the  mother,  the  husband,   the  wife,  the 


6  A  SEHMOtf. 

child,  the  friend,  that  once  I  loved.  "  Here  he  lies "  is  the  trJae7- 
the  appropriate  epithet  on  Christian  tomibs. 

And  so  he  does.  It  is  no  mere  concession  to  the  dulness  of 
the  mental  vision  that  we  turn  to  the  graves  of  our  dead  ones, 
with  the  yearning  of  loving  hearts,  and  so  tenderly  guard 
.their  resting  place.  It  is  no  mere  yielding  to  the  weakness 
of  the  flesh,  that  we  enclose  the  precious  dust  and  so  care- 
fully mark  the  spot  where  it  is  deposited.  Sere  he  does  lie. 
Not  only  the  earthly  form  now  turning  back  to  dust;  but  here 
lies  the  form  that  is  to  rise  immortal,  to  stand  with  us  at  the 
judgment,  to  enter  with  us  the  golden  gates.  True  Christian 
faith,  sitting  at  the  door  of  the  sepulchre,  thinks  not  only  of 
the  form  that  was  carried  lifeless  and  corruptible  to  its  last 
earthly  sleep ;  but  also,  of  the  body  that  shall  wake  in  im- 
mortal energy  and  issue  forth  in  glorious  beauty.  And  so 
as  the  Christian  tends  carefully  and  visits  lovingly  the  place 
where  sleep  the  companions  of  the  past,  he  feels  that  it  is 
with  the  companions  of  the  future,  rather,  that  he  is  holding 
silent  communion. 

It  is  a  mistake,  into  which  even  Christians  fall,  to  speak  of 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  as  if  the  body,  too,  were  not  im- 
mortal. The  immortality  of  the  soul  was  a  speculation  of 
heathen  philosophy,  and  rested  on  the  supposed  indestructi- 
bility of  the  spiritual  part  of  man.  The  immortality  of 
man,  body  and  soul,  is  a  doctrine  of  the  Gospel,  and  rests  on 
the  revelation  of  God,  and  gathers  its  confirmation  from  the 
resurrection  of  the  man  Christ  Jesus.  Those  Christians,  who, 
in  their  conceptions  of  heavenly  felicity,  leave  the  body  cut 
of  account,  and  make  the  disembodied  spirit  at  once  to  mount 
up  to  the  highest  glory  and  enter  upon  its  perfect  reward, 
seem  to  me,  to  be  rather  believers  in  Plato  than  in  Christ. 
for  it  surely  is  around  the  tomb,  that  His  disciples  are  taught 
to  anticipate  that  perfect  day,  when  mortality  shall  put  on 
immortality,  when  weakness  shall  gird  itself  with  strength, 
when  corruption  shall  be  raised  in  incorruption,  and  when 
all  the  blessed  children  of  the  resurrection  shall  "inherit the 
kingdom  prepared  for"  them  "from  the  foundation  of  the 
world." 

The  fact  then  that  the  body  is  to  be  raised  and  made  a  par- 


A  SERMON. 


ticipator  in  the  full,  final  reward,  proves  the  doctrine  of  which 
I  speak. 

II.  But  while  the  flesh  thus  rests  in  hope,  the  spirit  is  in 
its  proper  place.  Where  that  place  is  exactly,  we  care  not 
to  discuss.  It  is  called  Paradise  in  more  than  one  passage  ; 
in  one  other,  it  is  Abraham's  bosom  ;  and,  in  others,  the  in- 
visible place,  denominated  in  the  Psalms,  and  in  the  Acts, 
hell i.  e.  the  covered  place,  because  no  human  eye  can  pen- 
etrate its  shades.  In  the  old  heathen  mythology,  this  place 
of  the  dead  was  beneath  the  surface  of  the  earth.  There  were 
bright  elysian  fields,  the  counterparts  of  the  pleasantest  spots 
of  the  upper  world.  In  these  the  spirits  of  the  good  dis- 
ported themselves  as  they  had  been  wont  to  do  in  the  hap- 
piest days  of  their  earthly  life.  And  that  was  all.  The 
body  was  left  forever.  It  was  the  soul,  and  the  soul  alone, 
in  its  disembodied  state  that  occupied  their  contemplations 
of  the  condition  of  the  departed. 

Now  the  Scriptures,  all  in  harmony,  teach  us  this  one  coo- 
sistent  truth,  that  after  death  the  body  rests  in  the  grave, 
and  the  spirit  in  its  separate  condition,  is  in  the  place  of  de- 
parted spirits,  wherever  it  may  be,  but  not  in  the  state  of 
perfect  glory  destined  to  it  hereafter. 

This  place  is  called  hell,  as  where  in  the  Psalms,  David 
says,  "Thou  shalt  not  leave  my  soul  in  hell,  neither  shalt 
thou  suffer  thy  Holy  One  to  see  corruption."  Of  which  con- 
fidence of  David,  St.  Peter,  in  his  Pentecostal  address,  as- 
serts that  it  was  of  Christ's  soul  that  David,  as  a  Prophet, 
sung.  He  "spake  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  that  His 
souf  was  not  left  in  hell,  neither  His  flesh  did  see  corruption." 
This  place,  or  at  least  one  portion  of  this  place  of  departed 
spirits  is  Paradise ;  for  to  the  penitent  thief  our  Lord  prom- 
ised "To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise."  For  its 
locality  we  do  not  contend.  The  word  Paradise  is  a  sweet 
word,  and  carries  back  our  thoughts  to  Eden's  garden  of  per- 
fect and  delightful  beauty,  where  man  talked  face  to  face 
with  God,  and  innocent  and  immortal,  lacked  nothing  to  his 
present  enjoyment  or  his  future  expectation.  The  word 
strictly  means  a  kind  of  park  or  pleasure  ground,  and  is  sug- 
gestive of  peacefulness  and  repose.     In  our  conception  of 


8  A   SERMON. 

such  an  earthly  paradise,  there  may  be  included  the  idea  of 
a  noble  mansion,  to  which  these  lovely  grounds  belong.  In 
such  an  earthly  paradise,  the  invited  guests  who  have  already 
arrived,  may  wander  at  will,  amid  its  cool  shades  and  fra- 
grant breezes,  pleased  with  a  thousand  charms  of  sight  and 
sound,  happy  in  their  present  delightful  repose,  and  in  the 
expectation  of  the  rich  entertainment  to  which  they  have 
been  called.  In  such  a  state  of  actual  joy  and  of  still  more 
joyous  hope,  they  wait  till  the  time  shall  have  fully  come, 
till  all  the  guests  shall  have  arrived.  Then  the  doors  of  the 
mansion  are  thrown  open  and  all  go  in  together  and  sit  down 
at  the  banquet.  So  in  the  Paradise  of  God,  (b)  the  blessed 
dead,  full  of  present  peace  and  of  joyous  hope  wait  for  us. 
In  such  a  happy  state,  and  with  such  a  blessed  hope,  a  few 
years,  or  even  a  few  centuries,  are  in  comparison  with  the 
eternity  before  them,  but  a  waiting  moment.  They  wait  in 
joy,  and  when  the  appointed  time  shall  come,  when  the  num- 
ber of  the  elect  shall  be  completed,  then  again,  as  once  for 
Jesus,  our  ascending  Lord,  so  now  for  those,  who  are  made 
like  unto  Him,  shall  the  everlasting  gates  lift  up  their  festal 
heads,  and  all  the  saints  together  shall  go  in  and  sit  down  at 
the  Marriage  Supper  of  the  Lamb. 

We  hold  this  to  be  the  one  great  central  fact  of  all  the  glo- 
rious truths  concerning  the  invisible  world,  and  man's  con- 
dition therein,  at  which  Scripture  gives  us  transporting 
glimpses,  more  or  less  distinct :  i.  e.  Christ  is  the  Resurrection 
and  the  Life.  The  Resurrection  and  therefore  the  Life.  First, 
He  raised  Himself,  and  so  became  the  Giver  of  Life.  Through 
death  He  overcome  death.     By  His  raising  His  human  body, 

(6.)  Does  not  this  view  satisfactorily  explain  such  passages  in  Scripture  as 
are  quoted  against  the  doctrine  of  the  intermediate  state?  Such  passages  are 
Acts  vii,  59.  Phil,  i,  23.  2  Cor.  v,  6,  8,  xii,  4.  On  this  last  passage,  Dr.  Mc- 
Knight  says :  "  Clement,  of  Alexandria,  Justin  Martyr,  Irenasus,  Tertullian, 
and  most  of  the  ancients,  except  Origen,  and  among  the  moderns  Bull,  Whitby, 
Bengel,  &c,  were  of  opinion  that  the  Apostle  had  two  different  raptures."  The 
language  of  Bp.  Bull  is,  "First  he  had  represented  to  him  the  most  perfect  joys 
of  the  third  or  highest  heaven,  of  which  we  hope  to  be  partakers  after  the 
resurrection ;  and  then,  lest  so  long  an  expectation  should  discourage  us,  he 
saw  also  the  intermediate  joys  of  Paradise ;  and  for  our  comfort  tells  us,  that 
even  these  also  are  inexpressible."  Sermon  III,  on  the  middle  state,  &c.  Ols- 
hausen,  while  dissenting  from  the  idea  that  St.  Paul  speaks  of  two  visions,  yet 
says,  "  The  distinction  between  an  upper  and  a  lower  paradise  *  *  entirely 
corresponds  with  the  Biblical  doctrine." 


A   SERMON.  9 

and  re-uniting  it  to  the  human  soul,  He  burst  the  dominion 
of  the  king  of  terrors.  Till  His  resurrection,  He  was  not 
Himself  delivered  from  the  power  of  death  and  the  captivity 
of  the  grave.  But  when  on  the  third  day  He  came  forth, 
the  conqueror  of  death  and  hell,  then  the  triumphant  exul- 
tation began  to  be  shouted,  "  Oh,  Death !  where  is  thy  sting? 
Oh,  Grave!  where  is  thy  victory?"  Not  till  He  had  over- 
come death,  and  wrested  from  him  everything  that  he  had 
subdued  to  his  power,  do  the  Scriptures  exhibit  Christ  as  the 
Life  giver.  "Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also."  Or,  as  St. 
Paul,  who  so  plainly  points  to  the  bodily  life,  "  If  Christ  be 
not  raised,  your  faith  is  vain,  ye  are  yet  in  your  sins." 

And  on  this  truth  depends  another.  Till  the  moment  of 
His  victory,  Christ  was  in  His  state  of  humiliation.  For 
three  days  His  body  was  held  as  the  trophy  of  death,  thus 
far  the  victor  even  over  the  Life-giver  himself.  Thus  far,  He 
was  Himself  the  Captive.  And  can  we  imagine,  that  the 
Paradise,  to  which  His  soul  went,  was  the  state  of  triumph 
and  the  place  where  the  conqueror  of  Death  was  received 
with  all  the  glory  of  the  Victor  over  death  and  hell?  No! 
not  till  He  led  captivity  captive,  not  till  death's  dominion 
had  been  completely  shaken  off,  not  till  all  immortal,  body 
and  soul,  Jesus  had  overcome  death,  and  reclaimed  from  him 
all  His  human  nature,  did  the  city  of  our  God,  resound  with 
the  hosanahs  of  triumph,  and  the  challenged  gates  lift  up  their 
heads,  and  the  everlasting  doors  give  way,  to  let  the  King  of 
Glory,  the  conquering  Jesus  in. 

And  then,  is  the  disciple  above  his  Master  ?  Shall  the 
servant,  at  once,  after  death,  enter  the  full  triumph  of  the 
redeemed,  while  his  body  is  in  the  place  of  corruption,  when 
so  did  not  the  Lord  himself?  No !  Certainly  in  this  respect 
"it  is  enough  for  the  disciple  to  be  as  his  Master,  and  the  ser- 
vant as  his  Lord."  And  in  harmony  with  this  view  Scripture 
teaches  that  our  bodies  shall  in  the  tomb  await  a  glorious  res- 
urrection ;  that  they  are  to  be  made  like  unto  His  glorious 
body ;  that  our  flesh  shall  rest  in  hope  of  the  time  when 
Christ  shall  come  again,  and,  in  the  form  of  the  Son  of  Man, 
shall  call  forth  from  their  graves  all  His  sleeping  saints ;  that 
then  before  His  bar  the  gathered  nations  shall  be  judged ;  and 


10  A   SERMON. 

that  then  to  His  saints,  in  their  restored  human  nature,  body 
and  soul  reunited,  He  shall  address  the  welcome,  "Come,  ye 
blessed  children  of  my  Father,  receive  the  kingdom."  Then 
shall  come  the  blissful  reception  into  the  palace  of  the  King 
of  Kings.  Then  shall  the  righteous  enter  "life  eternal."  Then 
bearing  the  image  of  Him  who  reigns  in  glory,  shall  they  in 
His  likeness  be  perfectly  glorified  with  Him. 

And  we  do  maintain,  that  it  is  a  false  and  marring  view 
of  this  great  and  symmetrical  truth,  to  make  the  soul  of  the 
departed  saint,  immediately  after  death,  enter  upon  the  per- 
fect and  final  glory,  (c.)  Such  a  conception  of  the  state  of 
the  departed,  reduces  the  body  to  a  useless  appendage  to  the 
redeemed  and  glorified  man,  and  not  a  part  of  the  man  him- 
self; such  a  conception  sinks  the  resurrection  of  the  body  to 
a  useless  display  of  Almighty  power,  not  longed  for  by  the 
saint,  because  not  needed,  in  order  to  his  further  advance- 
ment in  glory.  Such  a  conception  makes  the  judgment  but 
the  idle  re-enacting  of  a  long  finished  drama,  and  the  sen- 
tence of  that  day  but  the  re-iteration  of  a  welcome  already 
extended  and  already  accepted.  No !  Not  so.  Think  of  our 
departed  friends  as  we  may — as  happy  as  we  may  fondly  be- 
lieve them  to  be — at  rest  from  all  earthly  labors,  and  that  is 
much — free  from  sin  and  temptation,  and  that  is  more — 
secure  in  their  title  to  their  eternal  inheritance,  and  that  is 
the  great  thing — in  Paradise,  the  celestial  ante-type  of 
Eden's  perfections  of  beauty  and  of  peace — in  Abraham's 
bosom,  and  so  in  the  sweet  companionship  of  all  the  saints — 
present  with  the   Lord,  because  absent  from  the  body,  and 

(c.)  "Now  I  do  affirm  the  constant  and  consentient  doctrine  of  the  primitive 
church  to  be  this:  that  the  souls  of  all  the  faithful,  immediately  after  death, 
enter  into  a  place  and  state  of  bliss,  far  exceeding  all  the  felicities  of  this  world, 
though  short  of  that  most  consummate  perfect  beatitude  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  with  which  they  are  to  be  crowned  and  rewarded  in  the  resurrection." 
Bp.  Bull,  Sermon  III. 

"  It  was  the  Popish  Convention,  at  Florence,  that  first  boldly  denned  against 
the  sense  of  the  Primitive  Christians.  That  those  souls  which,  having  con- 
tracted the  blemish  of  sin,  are,  either  in  their  bodies  or  out  of  them,  purged 
from  it,  do  presently  go  into  heaven,  and  there  clearly  behold  God  Himself 
one  God  in  three  persons,  as  He  is.  And  this  decree  they  made,  partly  to  es- 
tablish their  superstition  of  praying  to  the  saints  deceased ;  *  *  *  but  chiefly 
to  introduce  their  purgatory."    Ibid. 

Dr.  Whitby  says  :  "  And  the  Trent  Council,  sess.  25,  hath  laid  this  as  the 
foundation  of  the  invocation  of  saints  departed,  that  they  do  now  reign  with 
Christ,  and  enjoy  eternal  felicity  in  heaven."    Annotations  on  2  Tim.  iv,  8. 


A  SERMON*  11 

hence  with  him  in  a  closer  union  than  to  us  here  is  possi- 
ble— in  heaven,  perhaps,  if  by  heaven  you  simply  mean  some 
happy  place,  away  from  this  stricken,  groaning  world,  and 
nearer  to  the  glory  of  God's  immediate  presence,  where  sin 
and  sorrow  never  enter— think  of  them,  I  say,  as  we  fondly 
may;  but  oh  I  let  us  not  forget  that  a  higher  state,  a  more 
glorious  destiny,  a  fuller  fruition  yet  awaits  them,  which 
shall  not  be  by  them  enjoyed  till  we,  too,  if  we  are  so  hap- 
py, till  we,  too,  are  ready,  till  all  the  sons  of  immortality  are 
ready  and  Christ  comes  again.  Then,  side  by  side,  we  who 
have  taken  sweet  counsel  together,  and  gone  to  the  house  of 
God  in  company,  shall  be  glorified  together- — together  receive 
our  reward— together  go  in  at  the  heavenly  mansion  and  sit 
down  at  the  Marriage  Supper  of  the  Lamb. 

Oh  I  this  waiting  for  us  of  the  blessed  dead !  How  closely 
it  still  knits  them  to  us !  Waiting  for  us!  All  of  the  same 
company  still.  Waiting  for  us  I  Not  to  welcome  us  to  their 
perfect  state.  That  is  but  half  the  truth.  But  waiting  for 
us,  with  us  to  be  advanced  and  crowned.  Half  the  truth, 
did  I  say  !  It  is  but  the  merest  fraction  of  the  truth.  Glo- 
rious and  happy  as  we  may  conceive  our  departed  loved  ones 
now  to  be,  and  happy  as  we  may  be  when,  in  their  paradise< 
we  enjoy  their  present  joy,  it  will  still  be  but  the  beginning 
of  an  endless  advance,  the  first  step,  although  a  lofty  one,  in 
a  succession  of  upward  mountings  into  light  and  life ;  the 
first  enlargings  of  a  free  spirit,  that  is  more  and  more,  and 
forever  more  and  more,  to  be  filled  with  all  the  fullness  of 
God.  Our  departed  friends,  just  across  the  dark  river,  in 
those  bright  fields  which 

" — beyond  the  swelling  dood 
Stand  dressed  in  living  green," 

Wait  for  us,  to  enter  with  us,  as  conquerors,  into  the  Hea- 
venly City.  And  then  all  immortal,  body  and  soul,  we  in 
one  triumphal  throng,  with  Jesus  at  our  head,  shall  pass  on 
to  the  heavenly  Zion,  receive  our  crowns,  and  reign  with  Him 
forever  and  ever. 

At  the  old  Grecian  games,  the  victors  in  the  amphitheatre 
were  removed  from  the  arena  to  that  part  of  the  stadium, 


12  A  SERMOtf. 

where  the  judges  sat,  and  where  the  prises  had  been 
displayed.  Not  at  once  were  the  crowns  put  upon  their  brow. 
The  contests  in  the  amphitheatre  were  still  going  on.  One 
by  one  the  victors  passed  out  of  the  place  of  conflict  and 
entered  the  place  of  honor  and  repose.  Was  anything 
then  wanting  to  their  satisfaction?  Their  breasts  swelled 
with  exultation.  They  occupied  the  place  of  honor — the 
admired  recipients  of  a  nation's  envy  and  applause-  Yet  for 
a  while  they  waited.  Then  when  the  games  were  ended,  (d) 
the  judge  pronounced  the  names  of  the  victors  in  all  the 
games.  Then  the  paeans  burst  forth ;  then  the  crowns  de- 
scended ;  then  the  palms  were  grasped,  and  the  conquerors 
went  forth  to  banquet  and  song  amid  the  ringing  plaudits  of 
the  rejoicing  city. 

So  in  our  Christian  course,  which  the  Apostle  likens  to 
these  contests  of  ancient  Greece.  A  long  line  of  the  conquer- 
ors through  faith  have  passed  out  of  ,the  arena  of  earthly 
strife  to  the  piesence  of  their  Judge — to  the  post  of  securi- 
ty— to  the  place  of  honor,  of  happiness  and  of  repose.  Still 
they  have  not  yet  received  the  promise.  The  games  of  life 
are  still  progressing.  Other  victors  are  to  be  added  to  this 
faithful  throng.  Other  crowns  are  to  be  won,  Then  when 
all  this  earthly  probation  is  closed,  the  Judge  shall  arise,  the 
victors  shall  be  proclaimed,  the  crowns  awarded,  the  harps 
struck,  the  song  awakened  and  the  triumphal  procession  of 
the  redeemed  shall  take  up  its  march  to  the  uplifted  gates;. 
and  the  marriage  of  Christ  and  his  spotless,  perfect  Church, 
shall  cause  the  golden  streets  of  the  New  Jerusalem  to  re- 
sound with  the  welcome  acclaim. 

The  Church  of  Christ,  then,  is  to  be  considered  in  a  three- 
fold aspect,  Here  on  earth,  it  is  the  Church  Militant,  where 
the  struggle  is  still  going  on,  where  the  victories  are  to  be 
gained,  if  gained  at  all,  and  the  prize  of  everlasting  life  se- 
cured, if  secured  at  all.     Then  beyond  the  resurrection  of 

(d.)  So  testify  Theodoret  and  Theophylact.  Dr.  McKnight,  however,  on 
what  authority  I  do  not  find,  says  that  all  the  victors  of  the  day  were  together, 
at  the  close  of  each  day,  proclaimed  and  crowned.  The  difference  is  unimpor- 
tant. When  all  the  contests  of  this  earthly  life  are  over,  or  what  is  the  same 
thing,  when  the  day  of  probation  comes  to  an  end,  then  shall  the  crowns  of  im- 
mortality  be  awarded. 


A  SERMON',  13 

the  dead  and  the  eternal  awards  of  the  Judgment,  is  the 
Church  Triumphant,  where  the  victorious  saints  enjoy  their 
triumph  together,  the  proclaimed,  the  received  inheritors  of 
the  kingdom  and  the  crown.  Between  each  one's  death  and 
resurrection,  there  is  the  Church  in  another  state,  properly 
called  the  Church  Expectant,  where,  the  contest  finished,  the 
prize  secured,  the  successful,  happy  champions  of  faith,  in 
present  honor  and  delight,  delay  their  entrance  into  the  still 
higher  glory,  till  we  whom  they  love,  and  for  whom  they 
wait,  shall  have  finished  our  course  with  joy,  and  are  ready 
with  them,  in  body  and  soul,  to  "  have  our  perfect  consum-* 
mation  and  bliss."  For  "they,  without  us,  ghould  not  be 
made  perfect."  Oh !  what  an  incentive  here,  to  strenuous, 
unintermitted  labor  in  the  Christian  course.  "  Wherefore, 
seeing  we  also  are  compassed  about  with  so  great  a  cloud  of 
witnesses,  let  us  lay  aside  every  weight,  and  the  sin  that  doth 
so  easity  beset  us,  and  let  us  run  with  patience  the  race  that 
is  set  before  us."  Christian  champion,  have  you  among 
this  cloud  of  witnesses,  a  departed  parent  or  child,  husband 
or  wife,  brother,  sioter  or  friend,  in  whose  communion  on 
earth  you  delighted  ?  He  waits  for  }-ou  there,  Great  as  his 
present  joy  may  be,  he  waits  for  you  to  enter  upon  a  higher 
state  of  glory  and  felicity.     Shall  he  wait  in  vain? 

In  this  Church  Expectant  are  many,  who  have  recently, 
very  recently  completed  their  course  on  earth.  There  are 
many  now  there,  who  but  lately  drew  near  to  this  altar,  and 
participated  in  this  feast  of  love.  Within  the  five  years  that 
I  have  ministered  to  you,  in  this  part  of  the  Church  Militant, 
six  of  the  forty-six  communicants  whom  I  found  here,  have 
been  laid  by  me  in  the  grave.(e.)  Their  spirits,  we  trust,  are 
in  that  blissful,  waiting  throng,  waiting  for  us,  who  are  here 

(e.)  In  the  order  of  their  decease  these  are  Jeremiah  B.  Elmer,  a  Vestryman 
of  the  Parish,  J.  Mongin  Smith,  Junior  Warden,  Mrs.  Eliza  McDonald,  Mrs. 
Barbara  Pulliam,  Mrs.  Mary  W.  Berry,  Benjamin  Green,  Junior  Warden. 

Of  the  forty-six  communicants  on  the  Register  five  years  since,  fifteen  have 
removed,  leaving  only  twenty-five  of  that  number  at  this  time  on  our  commun- 
ion list.  Forty-four  have  been  added  by  removal,  sixty-seven  anew,  make  the 
sum  total  of  communicants  in  these  five  years,  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven. 
Of  these  additions  two  have  died,  and  twenty-four  removed,  leaving  our  pres- 
ent number  one  hundred  and  ten,  as  given  below.  In  this  are  reckoned  a  very 
few  who  on  this  (All  Saints)  day  received  their  first  communion.  None  are 
included  in  this  number  however,  who,  resident  it  may  be  for  a  longer  or 
shorter  time,  have  yet  parish  relations  elsewhere  in  the  Confederacy 


14  A  SERMONv 

to-day,  mutely  but  eloquently  calling  to  their  beloved  ones-, 
to  join  them  in  their  coming  day  of  triumph. 

In  this  view  of  the  relation  between  the  Church  Militant 
on  earth,  the  Church  Expectant  in  Paradise,  and  the  Church 
Triumphant  beyond,  the  history  of  each  Christian  Parish, 
becomes  deeply  interesting,  and  its  Register  extremely  sug- 
gestive. During  the  five  years  just  closed,  there  have,  in 
this  parish,  been  admitted  to  the  Christian  Church,  by  bap- 
tism, seventy -eight  children,  and  twenty-eight  adults.  In 
the  view,  upon  which,  this  morning,  we  have  been  dwelling, 
these  are  one  hundred  and  six  members  of  Christ,  children 
of  God,  inheritors  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  It  would  be 
a  blessed  thought,  that  all  of  them  shall  ever  thus  remain ; 
that  their  names  shall  never  be  blotted  out  of  that  book  of 
life,  which  will  at  the  last  great  day  be  opened. 

Within  these  years  seventy-six  of  God's  baptised  children 
have  here  renewed  their  baptismal  promises  and  avowed 
themselves  the  soldiers  and  servants  of  Christ,  and  have  set 
out  in  the  Christian  course,  to  win  the  prize  of  their  high 
calling.  Here  are  seventy-six  enlisted  competitors  for  the 
crown.  How  inexpressibly  delightful  it  would  be  to  the 
pastor's  heart,  to  believe  that  each  admitted  competitor, 
Would  so  run  as  to  obtain. 

Twenty-one  times  have  I  joined  in  Holy  Matrimony  those 
over  whom  I  have  uttered  the  prayer  of  benediction,  "May 
you  so  dwell  together  in  this  life,  that  in  the  world  to  come, 
ye  may  have  life  everlasting."  Would  that  in  every  case. 
We  could  feel,  that  Christ  and  His  Church  were  so  present  in 
this  earthly  union,  that,  with  assurance,  we  could  anticipate 
for  every  one  a  more  glorious  espousal,  and  a  never-ending 
re-uniom 

Forty-three  times  have  the  words  been  said  over  the  open 
grave,  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord."  Many 
of  these,  we  are  sure,  are  now  sleeping  in  Jesus,  their  flesh 
resting  in  hope,  their  spirits  joyously  in  Paradise  awaiting 
the  day  when  corruption  shall  put  on  ineorruption,  and  mor- 
tality shall  be  swallowed  up  of  life.  Oh !  that  no  sad  fore 
boding  of  a  resurrection  unto  shame  and  everlasting  con- 


A  SERMON.  15 

tempt,  mingled  with  our  anticipations  of  that  glorious  day 
Over  and  over  again,  as  we  are  to-day,  soon  to  do,  have 
we  gathered  around  this  table  of  our  Lord.  One  after  anoth- 
er has  disappeared  from  our  number,  to  join  the  greater  com- 
munion beyond  the  veil.  Others  have  come  in  to  fill  their 
places,  till  now  where  forty-six  stood,  five  years  ago,  now 
one  hundred  and  ten  are  registered  as  the  communicants  of 
this  Parish.  Month  by  month  the  sacrament  of  this  com- 
munion has  been  renewed.  Your  pastor's  heart  is  animated 
with  the  confidence  that  many  here  are  going  on  from  strength 
to  strength — till  they  appear  before  God  in  Zion  ;  that  they 
are  growing  more  and  more  meet  for  the  blessed  supper  above, 
where  none  but  the  tried  and  the  purified  shall  be  admit- 
ted. While  on  the  other  hand,  his  heart  is  saddened  with 
the  reflection,  that  many  seem  to  care  little  for  their  privil- 
eges, and  try  little  for  their  glorious  crown  ;  and  over  some 
such,  even  among  his  communicants,  the  sigh  will  arise,  that 
the  records  of  the  Church  Militant,  will  not,  perhaps  be  rati- 
fied by  the  records  of  the  Book  of  Life.  The  sad  thought 
will  intrude,  "that  many"  even  here,  are  to  be  found,  who, 
at  the  last,  "shall  seek  to  enter  in,  and  shall  not  be  able." 

Oh !  these  records  of  the  Church  of  Christ !  How  they 
speak  of  privileges  and  of  responsibilities,  of  hopes  and  prom- 
ises, of  God's  mercies  and  of  man's  accountabilities,  of  present 
grace  improved  or  neglected,  and  of  future  glory  or  despair ! 
Let  us  ever,  my  brethren,  remember  that  other  book  of  God's 
account,  and  strive  so  to  keep  our  place  in  His  family  that 
from  the  Church  Militant  on  earth,  we  may  pass  to  the  bless- 
ed company  of  the  faithful  dead,  who,  in  the  Church  Expec- 
tant, wait,  in  sure  and  certain  hope,  for  their  perfect  consum- 
mation and  bliss  in  the  Church  Triumphant,  in  the  immedi- 
ate presence  of  Christ,  our  risen  and  glorified  Lord. 

"  The  Spirit  and  the  Bride  say,  come — and  let  him  that  is 
athirst  come."  Do  not  these  sweet  words  of  invitation  from 
the  Bride  of  Christ,  this  gentle  persuasion  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
come  to  you  to-day,  with  a  strange  new  power  and  tender- 
ness— blended  as  they  are,  with  the  voices  of  the  fondly  re- 
membered, the  loved,  the  sainted  dead?     Can  you  not  hear 


16  A  SERMON. 

them  say,  "Come,  for  all  things  are  now  ready."  "Yet 
there  is  room."  Room  at  this  table  of  our  Lord,  room  in  our 
expectant  ranks — room  at  that  feast  above,  to  which,  we 
wait,  with  you  to  enter. 

And  now  to  Jesus,  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  our  Faith, 
our  risen  and  glorified  Lord,  be  ascribed,  with  the  Father 
and  Holy  Ghost,  as  by  the  angels  in  Heaven  and  the  saints 
in  Paradise,  so  by  the  Church  on  earth,  all  the  honor  and  the 
praise,  forever  and  forever.     Amen. 


Almighty  God,  with  whom  do  live  the  Spirits  op  those  who  de- 
part HENCE  IN  THE   LORD,     AND  WITH  WHOM  THB  SOULS  OP  THE  FAITHFUL, 

after  they  are  delivered  from  the  burden  of  the  flesh  are  in  joy 
and  felicity:  we  give  thee  hearty  thanks  for  the  good  examples 
of  all  those  thy  servants,  who,  having  finished  their  course  in 
faith,  do  now  rest  from  their  labors.  and  we  beseech  thee,  that 
we,  with  all  those  who  have  departed  in  the  true  faith  of  thy 
Holy  Name,  may  have  our  perfect  consummation  and  bliss,  both  in 
body  and  soul,  in  thy  eternal  and  eveerlasting  glory,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.    Amen. 


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